Antenna-coupled TES bolometer arrays for CMB polarimetry
C. L. Kuo, J. J. Bock, J. A. Bonetti, J. Brevik, G. Chattopadhyay, P. K. Day, S. Golwala, M. Kenyon, A. E. Lange, H. G. LeDuc, H. Nguyen, R. W. Ogburn, A. Orlan… 展开作者
C. L. Kuo, J. J. Bock, J. A. Bonetti, J. Brevik, G. Chattopadhyay, P. K. Day, S. Golwala, M. Kenyon, A. E. Lange, H. G. LeDuc, H. Nguyen, R. W. Ogburn, A. Orlando, A. Trangsrud, A. Turner, G. Wang, J. Zmuidzinas
We describe the design and performance of polarization selective antenna-coupled TES arrays that will be used in several upcoming Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments: SPIDER, BICEP-2/SPUD. The fully lithographic polarimeter arrays utilize planar phased-antennas for collimation (F/4 beam) and microstrip filters for band definition (25% bandwidth). These devices demonstrate high optical efficiency, excellent beam shapes, and well-defined spectral bands. The dual-polarization antennas provide well-matched beams and low cross polarization response, both important for high-fidelity polarization measurements. These devices have so far been developed for the 100 GHz and 150 GHz bands, two premier millimeter-wave atmospheric windows for CMB observations. In the near future, the flexible microstrip-coupled architecture can provide photon noise-limited detection for the entire frequency range of the CMBPOL mission. This paper is a summary of the progress we have made since the 2006 SPIE meeting in Orlando, FL.
We report on the development of commercially fabricated multi-chroic antenna coupled Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer arrays for Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarimetry experiments. The orders of magnitude increase in detector count for next-generation CMB experiments requires a new approach in detector wafer production to increase fabrication throughput. We describe collaborative efforts with a commercial superconductor electronics fabrication facility (SeeQC, Inc.) to fabricate antenna coupled TES bolometer detectors. We have successfully fabricated an operational dual-polarizati…
The Atacama B-mode Search (ABS) experiment is a 145 GHz polarimeter designed to measure the B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at large angular scales. The ABS instrument will ship to the Atacama Desert of Chile fully tested and ready to observe in 2010. ABS will image large-angular-scale CMB polarization anisotropies onto a focal plane of 240 feedhorn-coupled, transition-edge sensor (TES) polarimeters, using a cryogenic crossed-Dragone design. The ABS detectors, which are fabricated at NIST, use orthomode transducers to couple orthogonal polarizations of incoming rad…
We report on the development of commercially fabricated multi-chroic antenna coupled Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer arrays for Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarimetry experiments. CMB polarimetry experiments have deployed instruments in stages. Stage-II experiments deployed with O(1,000) detectors and reported successful detection of B-mode (divergent free) polarization pattern in the CMB. Stage-III experiments have recently started observing with O(10,000) detectors with wider frequency coverage. A concept for a Stage-IV experiment, CMB-S4, is emerging to make a definitive measu…
In this paper we explore the possibility of using transition edge sensor (TES) detectors in multi-mode configuration in the focal plane of the Short Wavelength Instrument for the Polarization Explorer (SWIPE) of the balloon-borne polarimeter Large Scale Polarization Explorer (LSPE) for the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization. This study is motivated by the fact that maximizing the sensitivity of TES bolometers, under the augmented background due to the multi-mode design, requires a non trivial choice of detector parameters. We evaluate the best parameter combination taking into acco…
Imaging polarimetry is an important tool for the study of cosmic magnetic fields. In our Galaxy, polarization levels of a few up to $\sim$10\% are measured in the submillimeter dust emission from molecular clouds and in the synchrotron emission from supernova remnants. Only few techniques exist to image the distribution of polarization angles, as a means of tracing the plane-of-sky projection of the magnetic field orientation. At submillimeter wavelengths, polarization is either measured as the differential total power of polarization-sensitive bolometer elements, or by modulating the polariza…
The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a high-resolution microwave-frequency telescope designed to observe the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). To date, two cameras have been installed on the SPT to conduct two surveys of the CMB, the first in intensity only (SPT-SZ) and the second in intensity and polarization (SPTpol). A third-generation polarization-sensitive camera is currently in development (SPT-3G). This thesis describes work spanning all three instruments on the SPT. I present my work in time-reversed order, to follow the canonical narrative of instrument development, deployment, and anal…
The current and future cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments fielding kilo-pixel arrays of transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers require accurate and robust gain calibration methods. We simplify and refactor the standard TES model to directly relate the detector responsivity calibration and optical time constant to the measured TES current $I$ and the applied bias current $I_{\mathrm{b}}$. The calibration method developed for the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) TES bolometer arrays relies on current versus voltage ($I$-$V$) measurements acquired daily prior to CMB obse…
The Atacama pathfinder experiment Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (APEX-SZ) instrument is a millimeter-wave cryogenic receiver designed to observe galaxy clusters via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect from the 12 m APEX telescope on the Atacama plateau in Chile. The receiver contains a focal plane of 280 superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers instrumented with a frequency-domain multiplexed readout system. The bolometers are cooled to 280 mK via a three-stage helium sorption refrigerator and a mechanical pulse-tube cooler. Three warm mirrors, two 4 K lenses, and a horn array couple the TES bol…
We present measurements of the electrical and thermal properties of new arrays of bolometeric detectors that were fabricated as part of a program to develop bolometers optimized for the low photon background of the EBEX balloon-borne experiment. An array consists of 140 spider-web transition edge sensor bolometers microfabricated on a 4" diameter silicon wafer. The designed average thermal conductance of bolometers on a proto-type array is 32 pW/K, and measurements are in good agreement with this value. The measurements are taken with newly developed, digital frequency domain multiplexer SQUID…
We describe the signal-processing firmware and software for a frequency-domain multiplexed (FDM) biasing and demodulation system that reads out Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer arrays for mm-wavelength cosmology telescopes. This system replaces a mixed-signal readout backend with a much smaller, more power-efficient system relying on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) for control, computation and signal processing. The new system is sufficiently robust, automated, and power efficient to be flown on stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes and is being further developed for satellite ap…
A digital frequency multiplexing (DfMUX) system has been developed and used to tune large arrays of transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers read out with SQUID arrays for mm-wavelength cosmology telescopes. The DfMUX system multiplexes the input bias voltages and output currents for several bolometers on a single set of cryogenic wires. Multiplexing reduces the heat load on the camera's sub-Kelvin cryogenic detector stage. In this paper we describe the algorithms and software used to set up and optimize the operation of the bolometric camera. The algorithms are implemented on soft processors e…
Superconducting Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers are used for cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. We used a testbed to evaluate the thermal performance of TES bolometers in regard to the saturation power Psat and intrinsic thermal time constant tau0. We developed an evaluation method that is complementary to methods with electrothermal feedback. In our method, the antenna termination resistor of the bolometer is directly biased with DC or AC electric power to simulate optical power, and the TES is biased with small power, which allows Psat and tau0 to be determined without c…
BICEP2/Keck and SPIDER are cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarimeters targeting the B-mode polarization induced by primordial gravitational waves from inflation. They will be using planar arrays of polarization sensitive antenna-coupled TES bolometers, operating at frequencies between 90 GHz and 220 GHz. At 150 GHz each array consists of 64 polarimeters and four of these arrays are assembled together to make a focal plane, for a total of 256 dual-polarization elements (512 TES sensors). The detector arrays are integrated with a time-domain SQUID multiplexer developed at NIST and read out u…
Voltage biased, frequency multiplexed TES bolometers have become a widespread tool in mm-wave astrophysics. However, parasitic impedance and dynamic range issues can limit stability, performance, and multiplexing factors. Here, we present novel methods of overcoming these challenges, achieved through digital feedback, implemented on a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). In the first method, known as Digital Active Nulling (DAN), the current sensor (e.g. SQUID) is nulled in a separate digital feedback loop for each bolometer frequency. This nulling removes the dynamic range limitation on the …
LiteBIRD is a proposed JAXA satellite mission to measure the CMB B-mode polarization with unprecedented sensitivity ($σ_r\sim 0.001$). To achieve this goal, $4676$ state-of-the-art TES bolometers will observe the whole sky for 3 years from L2. These detectors, as well as the SQUID readout, are extremely susceptible to EMI and other instrumental disturbances e.g. static magnetic field and vibration. As a result, careful analysis of the interference between the detector system and the rest of the telescope instruments is essential. This study is particularly important during the early phase of t…
The next generation of space-based mm-wave telescopes, such as JAXA's LiteBIRD mission, require focal planes with thousands of detectors in order to achieve their science goals. Digital frequency-domain multiplexing (dfmux) techniques allow detector counts to scale without a linear growth in wire harnessing, sub-Kelvin refrigerator loads, and other scaling problems. In this paper, we describe the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) firmware executed in the design's FPGA. This firmware is responsible for synthesizing bias tones, performing dynamic feedback control of the bolometer voltage bias and/…
At SRON we are developing the Frequency Domain Multiplexing (FDM) for the read-out of the TES-based detector array for the future infrared and X-ray space mission. We describe the performances of a multiplexer designed to increase the experimental throughput in the characterisation of ultra-low noise equivalent power (NEP) TES bolometers and high energy resolving power X-ray microcalorimeters arrays under ac and dc bias. We discuss the results obtained using the TiAu TES bolometers array fabricated at SRON with measured dark NEP below $5\cdot 10^{-19}W/Hz^{1/2}$ and saturation power of several…
The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLAST-Pol) is a suborbital mapping experiment designed to study the role played by magnetic fields in the star formation process. BLAST-Pol is the reconstructed BLAST telescope, with the addition of linear polarization capability. Using a 1.8 m Cassegrain telescope, BLAST-Pol images the sky onto a focal plane that consists of 280 bolometric detectors in three arrays, observing simultaneously at 250, 350, and 500 um. The diffraction-limited optical system provides a resolution of 30'' at 250 um. The polarimeter consists o…
A new concept of bolometer arrays is used for the imager of PACS, one of the three instruments aboard the future Herschel space observatory. Within the framework of PACS photometer characterization, irradiation tests were performed on a dedicated bolometer array in order to study long-term and short-term radiation effects. The main objective was to study particles impacts on the detectors applicable to future observations in orbit and possible hard and/or soft curing to restore its performances. Cobalt-60 gamma ray irradiations did not show significant degradation, so we mainly focused on sing…
We describe feedhorn-coupled polarization-sensitive detector arrays that utilize monocrystalline silicon as the dielectric substrate material. Monocrystalline silicon has a low-loss tangent and repeatable dielectric constant, characteristics that are critical for realizing efficient and uniform superconducting microwave circuits. An additional advantage of this material is its low specific heat. In a detector pixel, two Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers are antenna-coupled to in-band radiation via a symmetric planar orthomode transducer (OMT). Each orthogonal linear polarization is coupl…
EBEX is a balloon-borne telescope designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation. During its eleven day science flight in the Austral Summer of 2012, it operated 955 spider-web transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers separated into bands at 150, 250 and 410 GHz. This is the first time that an array of TES bolometers has been used on a balloon platform to conduct science observations. Polarization sensitivity was provided by a wire grid and continuously rotating half-wave plate. The balloon implementation of the bolometer array and readout electronics presente…
The next generation of space-based mm-wave telescopes, such as JAXA's LiteBIRD mission, require focal planes with thousands of detectors in order to achieve their science goals. Digital frequency-domain multiplexing (dfmux) techniques allow detector counts to scale without a linear growth in wire harnessing, sub-Kelvin refrigerator loads, and other scaling problems. In this paper, we introduce Technology Readiness Level 5 (TRL5) electronics suitable for biasing and readout of LiteBIRD's Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers using dfmux techniques. These electronics sit between the spacecraft…
The SAFARI Detector Test Facility is an ultra-low background optical testbed for characterizing ultra-sensitive prototype horn-coupled TES bolmeters for SAFARI, the grating spectrometer on board the proposed SPICA satellite. The testbed contains internal cold and hot black-body illuminators and a light-pipe for illumination with an external source. We have added reimaging optics to facilitate array optical measurements. The system is now being used for optical testing of prototype detector arrays read out with frequency-domain multiplexing. We present our latest optical measurements of prototy…
Star test polarimetry is an imaging polarimetry technique in which an element with spatially-varying birefringence is placed in the pupil plane to encode polarization information into the point-spread function (PSF) of an imaging system. In this work, a variational calculation is performed to find the optimal birefringence distribution that effectively encodes polarization information while producing the smallest possible PSF, thus maximizing the resolution for imaging polarimetry. This optimal solution is found to be nearly equivalent to the birefringence distribution that results from a glas…
We have developed antenna-coupled transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers for a wide range of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarimetry experiments, including BICEP2, Keck Array, and the balloon borne SPIDER. These detectors have reached maturity and this paper reports on their design principles, overall performance, and key challenges associated with design and production. Our detector arrays repeatedly produce spectral bands with 20%-30% bandwidth at 95, 150, or 220~GHz. The integrated antenna arrays synthesize symmetric co-aligned beams with controlled side-lobe levels. Cross-polarized …
The readout of transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers with a large multiplexing factor is key for the next generation Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiment, Polarbear-2, having 7,588 TES bolometers. To enable the large arrays, we have been developing a readout system with a multiplexing factor of 40 in the frequency domain. Extending that architecture to 40 bolometers requires an increase in the bandwidth of the SQUID electronics above 4 MHz. This paper focuses on cryogenic readout and shows how it affects cross talk and the responsivity of the TES bolometers. A series resistance, such…
The BICEP/Keck (BK) experiment aims to detect the imprint of primordial gravitational waves in the Cosmic Microwave Background polarization, which would be direct evidence of the inflation theory. While the tensor-to-scalar ratio has been constrained to be r_0.05 < 0.06 at 95% c.l., further improvements on this upper limit are hindered by polarized Galactic foreground emissions and removal of gravitational lensing polarization. The 30/40 GHz receiver of the BICEP Array (BA) will deploy at the end of 2019 and will constrain the synchrotron foreground with unprecedented accuracy within the BK sk…
SRON is developing the Frequency Domain Multiplexing (FDM) readout and the ultra low NEP TES bolometers array for the infrared spectrometer SAFARI on board of the Japanese space mission SPICA. The FDM prototype of the instrument requires critical and complex optimizations. For single pixel characterization under AC bias we are developing a simple FDM system working in the frequency range from 1 to 5 MHz, based on the open loop read-out of a linearized two-stage SQUID amplifier and high Q lithographic LC resonators. We describe the details of the experimental set-up required to achieve low powe…
The CEA/LETI and CEA/SAp started the development of far-infrared filled bolometer arrays for space applications over a decade ago. The unique design of these detectors makes possible the assembling of large focal planes comprising thousands of bolometers running at 300 mK with very low power dissipation. Ten arrays of 16x16 pixels were thoroughly tested on the ground, and integrated in the Herschel/PACS instrument before launch in May 2009. These detectors have been successfully commissioned and are now operating in their nominal environment at the second Lagrangian point of the Earth-Sun syst…
Most upcoming CMB experiments are planning to deploy between a few thousand and a few hundred thousand TES bolometers in order to drastically increase sensitivity and unveil the B-mode signal. Differential systematic effects and $1/f$ noise are two of the challenges that need to be overcome in order to achieve this result. In recent years, rotating Half-Wave Plates have become increasingly more popular as a solution to mitigate these effects, especially for those experiments that are targeting the largest angular scales. However, other effects may appear when a rotating HWP is being employed. …
The origin and the evolution of the universe are concealed in the evanescent diffuse extragalactic background radiation (DEBRA). To reveal these signals, the development of innovative ultra-sensitive bolometers operating in the gigahertz band is required. Here, we review the design and experimental realization of two bias-current-tunable sensors based on one dimensional fully superconducting Josephson junctions: the nanoscale transition edge sensor (nano-TES) and the Josephson escape sensor (JES). In particular, we cover the theoretical basis of the sensors operation, the device fabrication, t…
The next generation Advanced ACTPol (AdvACT) experiment is currently underway and will consist of four Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer arrays, with three operating together, totaling ~5800 detectors on the sky. Building on experience gained with the ACTPol detector arrays, AdvACT will utilize various new technologies, including 150mm detector wafers equipped with multichroic pixels, allowing for a more densely packed focal plane. Each set of detectors includes a feedhorn array of stacked silicon wafers which form a spline profile leading to each pixel. This is then followed by a wavegui…
The next generation of far infrared space observatories will require extremely sensitive detectors that can be realized only by combining extremely low intrinsic noise with high optical efficiency. We have measured the broad-band optical response of ultra-sensitive TES bolometers (NEP$\approx2\rm\ aW/\sqrt Hz$) in the 30--60-$μ\rm m$ band where radiation is coupled to the detectors with a few-moded conical feedhorn and a hemispherical backshort. We show that these detectors have an optical efficiency of 60% (the ratio of the power detected by the TES bolometer to the total power propagating th…
The POLARBEAR-2 CosmicMicrowave Background (CMB) experiment aims to observe B-mode polarization with high sensitivity to explore gravitational lensing of CMB and inflationary gravitational waves. POLARBEAR-2 is an upgraded experiment based on POLARBEAR-1, which had first light in January 2012. For POLARBEAR-2, we will build a receiver that has 7,588 Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers coupled to two-band (95 and 150 GHz) polarization-sensitive antennas. For the large array's readout, we employ digital frequency-domain multiplexing and multiplex 32 bolometers through a single superconductin…
Between the BICEP2 and Keck Array experiments, we have deployed over 1500 dual polarized antenna coupled bolometers to map the Cosmic Microwave Background's polarization. We have been able to rapidly deploy these detectors because they are completely planar with an integrated phased-array antenna. Through our experience in these experiments, we have learned of several challenges with this technology- specifically the beam synthesis in the antenna- and in this paper we report on how we have modified our designs to mitigate these challenges. In particular, we discus differential steering errors …
Digital Frequency-Domain Multiplexing (DfMux) is a technique that uses MHz superconducting resonators and Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) arrays to read out sets of Transition Edge Sensors. DfMux has been used by several Cosmic Microwave Background experiments, including most recently POLARBEAR-2 and SPT-3G with multiplexing factors as high as 68, and is the baseline readout technology for the planned satellite mission LiteBIRD. Here, we present recent work focused on improving DfMux readout noise, reducing parasitic impedance, and improving sensor operation. We have achiev…
Mapping the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background is yielding exciting data on the origin of the universe, the reionization of the universe, and the growth of cosmic structure. Kilopixel arrays represent the current state of the art, but advances in detector technology are needed to enable the larger detector arrays needed for future measurements. Here we present a design for single-band dual-polarization Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) at 20% bandwidths centered at 145, 220, and 280 GHz. The detection and readout system is nearly identical to the successful photon-noise-limited …
A technological milestone for experiments employing Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers operating at sub-kelvin temperature is the deployment of detector arrays with 100s--1000s of bolometers. One key technology for such arrays is readout multiplexing: the ability to read out many sensors simultaneously on the same set of wires. This paper describes a frequency-domain multiplexed readout system which has been developed for and deployed on the APEX-SZ and South Pole Telescope millimeter wavelength receivers. In this system, the detector array is divided into modules of seven detectors, and …
The Simons Observatory (SO) will perform ground-based observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with several small and large aperture telescopes, each outfitted with thousands to tens of thousands of superconducting aluminum manganese (AlMn) transition-edge sensor bolometers (TESs). In-situ characterization of TES responsivities and effective time constants will be required multiple times each observing-day for calibrating time-streams during CMB map-making. Effective time constants are typically estimated in the field by briefly applying small amplitude square-waves on top of the …
Detecting the cosmological sky-averaged (global) 21 cm signal as a function of observed frequency will provide a powerful tool to study the ionization and thermal history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the early Universe ($\sim$ 400 million years after the Big Bang). The greatest challenge in conventional total-power global 21 cm experiments is the removal of the foreground synchrotron emission ($\sim 10^3$-$10^4$ K) to uncover the weak cosmological signal (tens to hundreds of mK), especially since the intrinsic smoothness of the foreground spectrum is corrupted by instrumental effects. …
A prototype version of the Q & U bolometric interferometer for cosmology (QUBIC) underwent a campaign of testing in the laboratory at Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology laboratory in Paris (APC). The detection chain is currently made of 256 NbSi transition edge sensors (TES) cooled to 320 mK. The readout system is a 128:1 time domain multiplexing scheme based on 128 SQUIDs cooled at 1 K that are controlled and amplified by an SiGe application specific integrated circuit at 40 K. We report the performance of this readout chain and the characterization of the TES. The readout system has been fu…
The Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer (PIPER) is a balloon-borne telescope mission to search for inflationary gravitational waves from the early universe. PIPER employs two 32x40 arrays of superconducting transition-edge sensors, which operate at 100 mK. An open bucket dewar of liquid helium maintains the receiver and telescope optics at 1.7 K. We describe the thermal design of the receiver and sub-kelvin cooling with a continuous adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (CADR). The CADR operates between 70-130 mK and provides ~10 uW cooling power at 100 mK, nearly five times the loadin…
Key performance characteristics are demonstrated for the microwave SQUID multiplexer ($μ$MUX) coupled to transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers that have been optimized for cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. In a 64-channel demonstration, we show that the $μ$MUX produces a white, input referred current noise level of 29~pA$/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ at -77~dB microwave probe tone power, which is well below expected fundamental detector and photon noise sources for a ground-based CMB-optimized bolometer. Operated with negligible photon loading, we measure 98~pA$/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ in t…
We describe the design and measurement of feedhorn-coupled, transition-edge sensor (TES) polarimeters with two passbands centered at 220 GHz and 280 GHz, intended for observations of the cosmic microwave background. Each pixel couples polarized light in two linear polarizations by use of a planar orthomode transducer and senses power via four TES bolometers, one for each band in each linear polarization. Previous designs of this detector architecture incorporated passbands from 27 GHz to 220 GHz; we now demonstrate this technology at frequencies up to 315 GHz. Observational passbands are defin…
Future mm-wave and sub-mm space missions will employ large arrays of multiplexed Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers. Such instruments must contend with the high flux of cosmic rays beyond our atmosphere that induce "glitches" in bolometer data, which posed a challenge to data analysis from the Planck bolometers. Future instruments will face the additional challenges of shared substrate wafers and multiplexed readout wiring. In this work we explore the susceptibility of modern TES arrays to the cosmic ray environment of space using two data sets: the 2015 long-duration balloon flight of th…
We present continued development of laterally graded multilayer mirrors (LGMLs) for a telescope design capable of measuring linear X-ray polarization over a broad spectral band. The multilayer-coated mirrors are used as Bragg reflectors at the Brewster angle. By matching to the dispersion of a spectrometer, one may take advantage of high multilayer reflectivities and achieve modulation factors over 50% over the entire 0.2-0.8 keV band. In Phase II of the polarimetry beam-line development, we demonstrated that the system provides 100% polarized X-rays at 0.525 keV (Marshall et al. 2013). Here, …
We describe 280 GHz bolometric detector arrays that instrument the balloon-borne polarimeter SPIDER. A primary science goal of SPIDER is to measure the large-scale B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background in search of the cosmic-inflation, gravitational-wave signature. 280 GHz channels aid this science goal by constraining the level of B-mode contamination from galactic dust emission. We present the focal plane unit design, which consists of a 16$\times$16 array of conical, corrugated feedhorns coupled to a monolithic detector array fabricated on a 150 mm diameter silicon wafer. …
POLARBEAR-2 is a next-generation receiver for precision measurements of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)). Scheduled to deploy in early 2015, it will observe alongside the existing POLARBEAR-1 receiver, on a new telescope in the Simons Array on Cerro Toco in the Atacama desert of Chile. For increased sensitivity, it will feature a larger area focal plane, with a total of 7,588 polarization sensitive antenna-coupled Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers, with a design sensitivity of 4.1 uKrt(s). The focal plane will be cooled to 250 milliK…
It has been recently demonstrated that superconducting transition edge sensors (TESs) behave as weak-links due to longitudinally induced superconductivity from the leads with higher Tc. In this work we study the implication of this behaviour for TES-based bolometers and microcalorimeter under ac bias. The TESs are read-out at frequencies between 1 and 5 MHz by a Frequency Domain Multiplexer based on a linearised two-stage SQUID amplifier and high- Q lithographically made superconducting LC resonators. In particular, we focus on SRON TiAu TES bolometers with a measured dark Noise Equivalent Pow…
Advanced ACTPol (AdvACT) is a third generation polarization upgrade to the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, designed to observe the cosmic microwave background (CMB). AdvACT expands on the 90 and 150 GHz transition edge sensor (TES) bolometer arrays of the ACT Polarimeter (ACTPol), adding both high frequency (HF, 150/230 GHz) and low frequency (LF, 27/39 GHz) multichroic arrays. The addition of the high and low frequency detectors allows for the characterization of synchrotron and spinning dust emission at the low frequencies and foreground emission from galactic dust and dusty star forming galaxi…
SPT-3G is a polarization-sensitive receiver, installed on the South Pole Telescope, that measures the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from degree to arcminute scales. The receiver consists of ten 150~mm-diameter detector wafers, containing a total of 16,000 transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers observing at 95, 150, and 220 GHz. During the 2018-2019 austral summer, one of these detector wafers was replaced by a new wafer fabricated with Al-Mn TESs instead of the Ti/Au design originally deployed for SPT-3G. We present the results of in-lab characterization and on-sky perfo…
The stability of Al-Mn transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers is studied as we vary the engineered TES transition, heat capacity, and/or coupling between the heat capacity and TES. We present thermal structure measurements of each of the 39 designs tested. The data is accurately fit by a two-body bolometer model, which allows us to extract the basic TES parameters that affect device stability. We conclude that parameters affecting device stability can be engineered for optimal device operation, and present the model parameters extracted for the different TES designs.
